The objective of this study was to explore the impact of music on participants’ comprehension and retention of passages during reading. Two distinct passages, varying in difficulty levels, were presented to participants under two conditions: one with accompanying music and the other in silence. Post-reading, participants were promptly assessed through a set of questions related to the passages.
Our participant pool was intentionally diverse, encompassing individuals with varied study backgrounds and age groups. This inclusivity aimed to capture insights from those who both regularly and infrequently listen to music while reading or studying. The study sought to discern whether participants, who typically refrain from incorporating music into their study routine, encounter difficulties in focus, or conversely, whether music enhances their cognitive processes during reading. This multifaceted approach allows us to explore the potential benefits or challenges associated with integrating music into the reading environment across different demographic groups.
Our working hypothesis is that the presence of music poses a greater challenge to concentration during more complex tasks, with minimal to no discernible impact on simpler ones. We anticipate observing negligible differences in performance metrics for the easier passage when comparing the conditions with and without music.
In contrast, we hypothesize a significant divergence in these metrics when participants engage with the more challenging passage, expecting a noticeable impact on concentration and comprehension. This hypothesis is grounded in the assumption that cognitive demands associated with difficult tasks may be more susceptible to external factors such as auditory stimuli.
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| As it was | Harry Styles |
| Drivers License | Olivia Rodrigo |
| Flowers | Miley Cyrus |
| You are the reason | Calum Scott |
| Thank U Next | Ariana Grande |
In order to get the best results, we had to clean out some of the responses filled in the survey. We started by clearing out any names which were not “anonymous” in order to maintain privacy. Furthermore, only responses filled in after 2024-01-15 were used in order to exclude our test responses from the results. Survey durations outside the range of 360 to 1800 seconds were filtered out. Columns containing time-related data were converted to numeric format with non-numeric entries replaced by NaN, and two new data frames are created by filtering the original data frame based on specific consitions. The purpose of this is to separate the data into two groups based on values of time taken to answer a question with music.